New Year, 2012!

Hi everyone! I hope you have had a lovely Christmas, and have a great New Year!

This post is about the New Year, which I'm sure is something people are thinking a lot about at the moment! As I'm writing, it is currently New Year's Eve. I'm not a big New Year's celebrator. I don't do the whole champagne at midnight thing, although I do stay up (usually!). I use the opportunity to eat lots of chocolates and watch the special New Year's programmes that are on TV, and spend the evening with my family. I guess, although I don't do the big New Year's Eve celebrations, me and my family have our own traditions, in our own way!
I've always said, I don't think the New Year is very special, at least, not like Christmas. If I needed to work over New Year's Eve/Day, I wouldn't mind (although, if there was a day off, I would take it!!).

But I think, if there's one thing the New Year represents, it's a new start. Although I don't work on the proper yearly calendar- I work on the academic calendar, with September being my January, if that makes sense, the majority of the rest of the world works on January-December, so it just seems natural that I do too, at least in part. There are 2 main things I'm going to use this new start as an opportunity for.
The first is New Year's resolutions. Normally I hate setting myself resolutions. It comes from school, when at the start of the new school year we were told to list resolutions we want to work on for the coming school terms. But that means going through all our bad habits, our failures- I HATE looking back at my failures!!! But this year I want to look at it with a positive stance- 'What will make my life easier?', 'What would I like to improve this year?' etc. Not looking at my failures, my bad habits, but concentrate on making my life better for the forthcoming year.
That ties in with my second thing I'm going to do this New Year- The Happiness Project! I started reading the book in August (and haven't actually had time to finish it!), and thought I would start my own at the start of the next month, September, which is also the start of my uni academic year- it seemed perfect! But I was always so busy with everything I had to do when I got back to uni that I never got around to it!! I haven't had even 1 month where I have successfully managed to fulfil anything substantial for the Project. So I will start again with  this New Year.
Today's project is therefore to write a list of resolutions, and work out my January Happiness Project focus, and list of things to do towards it each day. Hopefully, I will post at the start of each month what that month's focus is, and at the end of that month how successful/unsuccessful I have been! My overall aim is self-improvement- and hopefully- Happiness because of it!!

Last few days- update!!

Hi everyone!
So lots of interesting stuff has happened in the last few days, and instead of breaking it up into innumerable separate posts, I decided to do 1 long one!!

I last blogged about my vintage Filofax purchase. After playing with it for a couple of hours, and cleaning it, I decided that I didn't want to keep it. Thanks to all the advice from everyone about how to treat it, but I was just too worried about damaging such a precious filo. It felt like the designer bags I saw at the Bristol meet-up with Imy- I would be scared to use it, or even touch it, because I was worried about damaging it! But for a couple of hours I gave it the TLC it needed- I cleaned it with a baby wipe- it needed it as it was really dusty- and I smothered it with a thin layer of unscented face cream (as I didn't have any Nivea). Immediately you could tell it was sucking in the moisture from the cream, it really needed it!

It absorbed most of the cream, then I wiped the reminder off with a tissue. After:

It felt noticeably smoother and healthier!
But I decided that I didn't really like the vintage Filo. It was a combination of how I was worried that I wouldn't treat it properly, and that it wasn't quite as nice as my Malden!! I guess I have been spoiled!
So I put it up on ebay. This was a big deal for me, as I have only ever sold 1 thing before, and that was a handbag for my mum years ago! I put it up on Buy-it-Now, and within an hour and a half it had sold!!!!! I was shocked!! After many emails back and forth (stressful!!), 24 hours(!) later, the buyer paid for it, and today I posted it :)
In the meantime, due to the lifted confidence brought by the success of my first filofax ebay selling, I put my A5 raspberry Finsbury up for sale! This is the one Filofax sent me as a replacement for the one I got earlier this year, which was damaged (although, according to the seller, brand new!!!). This sold quickly too! The buyer of this one also had lots of questions, and needed it to be delivered quickly because it's for her birthday in early January, and Christmas post/Christmas break will mean Royal Mail is slower in the next week or so. So I had lots to organise and think about with selling these filofaxes!!All I can say is that ebaying is stressful!!

I also bought a Filofax, an A5 brown Kendal! The trouble is, the seller on ebay said that he was away until 3rd January. This is fine, I thought, and when he comes back to work he will dispatch it on 3rd or 4th January, so I might as well send it to my Liverpool address, as I will be back there a couple of days later!
BUT actually, it turns out he wasn't away, he just put that he was so people didn't expect their parcels to arrive by Christmas! Well, Mr seller, you shouldn't say this unless you really ARE away, it's a LIE and has caused me a big problem!!! If I had known you were going to dispatch it now, I would have asked you to send it to Plymouth, where I will be able to receive it in the next couple of weeks! But instead, it has been dispatched to an empty house, where the 'You weren't in' red slip will sit on the doormat for 2 weeks, and my Filofax will sit all lonely in the delivery office, waiting for redelivery!! I will just have to wait until I get back to Liverpool to arrange redelivery so I can finally get my hands on my Kendal, which I have been wanting since April!! It's going to be my uni assignments filofax, to replace the Finsbury I just sold!
And a few days ago I received the personal red Butterfly Filofax I bought very cheaply from ebay, as a reward to myself for finishing my dissertation proposal a day early!! The clasp is a bit damaged, but will serve me great over the next couple of weeks when I don't have any of my other filofaxes here (except for my trusty ochre Malden of course!)

In other news, today me, Imy, Anita and her husband met up in Plymouth! It was brilliant, because this is where I live!! Well, during the holidays, at least! We went for lunch at Spud-U-Like (although I had Burger King!), went to Lush, Paperchase, Boots, Fat Face, and House of Fraser where Imy bought lots of expensive make-up and we looked at- and tidied- the Filofax shelves!! And I had the most gorgeous Ferrero Roche hot chocolate drink in cafe The Americano!! Hope we can do something fun like this again soon! Or in Liverpool!

Hmm... there are probably other things I have forgotten to say!! But for now I will tell you what my plans are for the next few days: Arranging my brother's Christmas present- (horrible) Apex filofax, which I will fill with notepaper and teach him how to use the dividers and arrange the sections in the way he wants! Converting the world to Filofaxes, 1 person at a time!!
I will also be sorting out my new A5 Ochre Malden. I need to put my current assignment stuff in it, because it's the only A5 I have at the moment, and it's full of other papers, so it needs sorting out, as well as setting up to be my proper MA dissertation planner! Then when I finally get my hands on my Kendal, I will set that up to be my 'other assignment' planner- the essays etc I'm doing that aren't for my dissertation (which needs to be my focus over the next couple of months), while my A5 ochre Malden will be my proper dissertation planner! I can't wait to get them sorted!
And I will also be sorting out some more important filofax things! In my Butterfly Filofax, which will serve as my excess filo at the moment, because my everyday filofax is full to the brim, I am going to start a Reading section, which will eventually go into a Reading Filofax, and my 2012 Happiness Project stuff. In my reading filofax, I am going to write a list of books I want to download for my ereader I am getting for Christmas, and start writing reviews of the books I read! And next year I am going to try to stick to my Happiness Project, because I didn't stick to it last year! So I need to write a list of 2012 resolutions and goals, and sort out monthly improvements charts. These will go into my teal Finchley when I get back to Liverpool!

OK, that's enough from me!!
I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! 
I will post again soon to talk about the exciting things I received at Christmas, and hopefully about how much my brother loves his new Filofax!!!!! ;b

First Impressions of 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin

Hi! This is my first impressions review of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

I must admit, when I first heard about this book and the project itself on several blogs, I didn't know what it was and I didn't have any interest in finding out. Recently, I joined the Facebook fan page ran by Philofaxy fans- only because it was something to do with Filofaxes! But then I stumbled upon some sort of description of it, and realised that a) it could be quite fun and b) it could help facilitate the self-improvements I want to make. I had been looking for a 'project' of some kind to do, because it's the uni summer holidays and I'm BORED!! Also, I wanted an excuse to buy (or rather, a purpose for) this Teal Finchley personal Filofax I had found on ebay, and was hoping to win. Although I didn't know much about the Project, I knew I could use a Filofax for it from a post by Kanalt. And I'll take any excuse to buy and use a pretty new Filofax!!!

I wondered, one day as I was sitting bored at home, if my local library had a copy of the book. I checked the online catalogue, and it did! So I went out that afternoon and borrowed it. I started reading it and I have been semi-obsessed with it ever since; with the interesting book, with filling in my new Teal Finchley, with the self-improvements and Happiness I could get out of it!

I've only read the first 3 chapters, but I feel I'm in a position to write my initial impressions about it now.

The book itself is the story of the author in her attempts to take action to become happier in her life. It isn't a handbook about how to set-up your own Happiness Project (although my copy, the paperback 2011 edition, has some pages at the back with advice that will help); but it isn't hard to use it to help develop your own. In the 'Getting Started' chapter, you can see the structure (commandments, areas of focus, resolutions etc) that Rubin's own Project took, and this will help you set up your own. In reading Rubin's story, you can take or leave as much as you want; adopt some of her resolutions, commandments, or let it spark your imagination about what areas your could focus on, or even realise fixable problems in your life you didn't even know were problems! It is, in itself, an entertaining book (and we all like reading about other peoples' lives), but it could also be an invaluable resource in helping the reader set up their own Project. But in the end, it is up to you to sort out your own Happiness Project, by identifying the areas in your life that need improving and taking individual actions (resolutions) to help improve them, in an effort to make you happier in general.
Here are the reasons I like this book.

The author is Gretchen Rubin, a writer who lives in New York with her husband and 2 daughters. And I think that is what makes this book and her story so understandable; she is a NORMAL woman. She's not a celebrity who takes a limo everywhere (she takes the bus) or has an army of maids (she cleans her apartment herself); she has many of the same problems as her readers will. Of course, her life, and therefore this book, won't perfectly match the lives of her readers; she says in the 'A Note to the Reader' section that everyone's Happiness Project will look different, because we all have unique lives, but our own Projects will mold to our own individual needs. For example, she is married with children; I still live at home with my parents. She was trained as a lawyer and is now a writer with 4 published books; I'm still a student. But while I think her life seems completely different than mine in those and other respects, I'm still learning from her experiences, such as in the February chapter where she talks about how she learnt not to snap, something I need to learn not to do at home.
    Rubin uses her own experiences to give the story of each individual resolution. She starts off each section by explaining why she needs to make those self-improvements, e.g. 'Go to sleep earlier', using her own experiences or habits, justifies it with her own research into how that resolution helps people in general, and explains how it has helped to improve her life as a result. When you read this, you understand this action helps in reality. Rubin has tried and tested this; she is her own guinea pig. And because she is a normal person, you understand that these can help your own life too.
    Another reason I like this book is because Rubin is a writer (and she has a wonderful writing-style).
1) She isn't a doctor, or a psychologist; this book isn't a self-help book. It doesn't patronise, or lecture; it gives Rubin's entertaining story of her own problems and her subsequent efforts to improve. I must admit, I have never read any self-help books, and I don't want to; but I can't imagine the expert author of a clinical or psychological self-help book would use him- or herself as the focus of the book, or the subject of the experiment (although I may be wrong). Rubin's 'experiment' is her own, that she just happens to have written down. You can tell through her wording that she did this for herself, and therefore she doesn't lecture the reader. It is enjoyable to read, and endearing.
2) Rubin trained as a lawyer, and has also written historical biographies. In both of these roles, research is incredibly important. Throughout the book, it is clear that she has done a lot of research into the subjects she is focussing on in her own project, reading books on philosophy, biology, psychology etc etc to research just the first few topics I have read about in the first 3 chapters, happiness, energy and marriage/love. Rubin did this research for herself (rather than for the book), to understand the best actions to take in improving the areas she wanted to focus on. This is very important, as it helps to scientifically justify to the reader, for example, the importance for your health of going to bed early, or the importance for your relationship of not snapping or nagging at your other half. Rubin isn't just making this stuff up, and she hasn't just happened to stumble upon some good approaches to self-improvement; everything is scientifically justified. This makes me confident to trust the book in helping me work out what is best for my own Happiness Project.

I am in the course of making my own Happiness Project. I understand this will take a long time, but I am prepared to stick with it. I think the book, and Rubin's associated blog, toolbox and facebook page are invaluable resources in this endeavour. I think everybody should give the book a go, even if you think you are happy enough already, you will undoubtedly learn SOMETHING from the book. Take as much or as little as you want from it to contribute towards your own Happiness Project; or just read the book because it's an interesting story. In this post I have discussed the reasons I like this book; but each specific chapter is up to the individual to read and analyse. When I read something I like, I underline it in pencil, then write notes in my filofax. Later I will review these notes and use them to help me set up my own Project. I am doing it this way because this is how I analyse articles for my university course. You can do it your own way. Just try it; borrow it from the library if you don't want to buy it.
My next post concerning The Happiness Project will discuss my own project, including the set-up of my HP Filofax. I don't know when this will be, but it might be in a few months, as this is an ongoing project for me. Wish me luck!